“It is in my heart to praise thee, O my God; let me never forget thee, what thou hast been to me in the night by thy presence, in the day of trial when I was beset in darkness, when I was cast out as a wandering bird, and when I was assaulted with strong temptations, then thy presence in secret did preserve me, and in a low estate I felt thee near me.”
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead
to heal our broken souls.
“Join me in holding hope for restoration.
Join me in prayers and intentions for peace.
Join me in offering our service toward justice and a world of mutual reciprocity.”
“It is very difficult not to be fearful. And I think there’s a reason that every spiritual tradition, and certainly the holy Bible itself, admonishes us not to be afraid again and again; it’s that fear is a great obstacle. It gets in our way. But we can’t will ourselves to be fearless. And so I think it’s good to be able to name the terror, to say, ‘What is terrifying you right now?'”
“In this humanistic age we suppose man is the initiator and God is the responder. But the living Christ within us is the initiator and we are the responders. God the Lover, the accuser, the revealer of light and darkness presses within us. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock.’ And all our apparent initiative is already a response, a testimonial to His secret presence and working within us. The basic response of the soul to the Light is internal adoration and joy, thanksgiving and worship, self-surrender and listening.”
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
“During a recent meeting for worship at Orange Grove I was led to share a message about depression. It has become clear to me that some highly gifted people, including some Friends, have suffered from this affliction….
When Fox spoke of an ‘ocean of darkness,’ he was using a metaphor that vividly describes what many people experience during depression – a feeling of drowning in an unending sea of despair.
But Fox also experienced an ‘ocean of light’ – a sense of being buoyed up in a sea of divine love so intense it overcomes this feeling of isolation and hopelessness.”
“In this century we have been newly filled by the conscious knowledge of our own darkness – that we carry this darkness within us. We no longer need to project our darkness outward into demons or scapegoats – or, if we do, we know we are evoking disaster. It is by encounter with our own darkness that we recognise the light. It is the light itself which shows us the darkness – and both are summoned within us.”
“What is your first instinct – your first act – when you walk into a dark room? Mine is to find a light switch… to turn on a light! I want to know where I am, to see where I’m going. I want to be able to find my way.
In the creation story, the first thing God did was to flip on a light switch. God spoke, and light came. The earth was formless, dark and empty, and God spoke light into being. ‘God called the light Day and the darkness God called Night.'”
“Our strength or help is only in God; but then it is near us, it is in us – a force superior to all possible opposition – a force that never was, nor can be foiled. We are free to stand in this unconquerable ability, and defeat the powers of darkness; or to turn from it, and be foiled and overcome. When we stand, we know it is God alone upholds us.”
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